Arrest warrant issued for missing pilot

YAKIMA – A Pierce County Superior Court judge has issued an arrest warrant for the pilot of a small plane that vanished from radar over the Cascade Range.

George E. Trupp, 53, of Snoqualmie, had been scheduled to plead guilty to an indecent liberties charge today in Tacoma, said Linda King, a public defender who has worked on the case.

Pierce County prosecutors asked for the warrant after searchers told them Trupp had flown to Idaho and Yakima, said John Sheeran, a Pierce County deputy prosecutor. Under terms of his release, Trupp was not to travel outside of Pierce, King, Thurston and Kitsap counties, Sheeran said.

“If something has happened to him, obviously our thoughts are with the family,” Sheeran said. “If he has absconded, it’s important that authorities throughout the continent know there is an outstanding warrant.”

Prosecutors charged Trupp in August 2006 with fondling a 20-year-old baby sitter in Puyallup, near Tacoma. The charge carries a sentence of 15-20 months, King said.

A search for the plane, which disappeared May 22, has ended.

An aerial search Monday failed to produce any trace of the Cessna Cardinal rented from Pro-Flight Aviation Inc. of Renton, said Thomas M. Peterson, state aviation emergency coordinator.

Records show Trupp pleaded guilty in 1994 to communication with a minor for immoral purposes, a misdemeanor.